MORE MOVIE TRAILERS FOR 2012 TOYS!

Randy here… with some more trailers since that have just come down the internets! Its amazing what can change in a week and I figured they were worth a look.

Plus, I’ve just come back from an IMAX screening of Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol (which was pretty bad-ass)… which allowed me to see the six-minute prologue sequence from The Dark Knight Rises!

But we’ll get to that…

Let’s see what’s up this week in movie trailers… to be out next year in toy aisles!

PROMETHEUS

You have my attention, Mr. Scott!

I’ve been around this world long enough to have seen the trailers for ALIEN when it came out in theaters. Yes, THAT one-the one that started it all. Saw it theatrically at a drive-in in Brantree, MA with my family… because that’s how we roll!

And Ridley Scott remembers that trailer too, as this echoes back both visually and aurally. Take a look at the ALIEN trailer from 1979 and compare. I love that we even have the slowly revealed title as it is built piece by piece.

I’m very happy with what I saw (or didn’t see) and the general feel of the film. Ridley Scott has had his share of misfires over the years, but to have him come back to this series, to movie that put him on the map as a film maker really intrigues me. He didn’t have to do a sequel/prequel/whatever to ALIEN. It is a classic film. So there is something here that interests him… and by extension, I am interested. I’m thinking about avoiding seeing ANYTHING else about the movie til June.

Yeah.
Right.
That’ll happen.

No toy license has been announced as of yet. I doubt that we’ll be seeing regular action figures at Walmart due to the nature of the movie. But Hot Toys has done 12″ figures for ALIEN, ALIENS(*sigh*) as well as the AvP movies, so it would not surprise me in the least to see them pick up the license.

TOYS: Nothing AnnouncedRELEASE DATE: June 8, 2012

THE DARK KNIGHT RISES (Trailer #2)

Oh. My. Word.
This movie looks so… big!

Not in the “look at how massively we blow things up” or “look at the CG creatures we created for this action sequence.” This is big as in the scope of the movie. Batman is up against Bane, his army and, in many ways, Gotham City itself to try and stop it from destruction… and I’m not sure if he can succeed AND survive it.

And I LOVE that feeling about a movie!

I know I covered this film previously. But remember when I posted this:Hot Toys has confirmed themselves for the third installment: “Besides the 1/6th scale collectible figures, we will be bringing to fans with the vehicles series too!” …And maybe Hot Toys will bring back the Tumbler again… in desert camo.

THIS is what I was being coy about!

Not only is the Bat Pod back but the Tumbler is… or rather MANY of them. And apparently armed with cannons! And what is that at the end-the Batcopter? Batplane? Bat Hovercraft?! Is Nolan trying to make his own version of Frank Miller’s “The Dark Knight Returns”?

We won’t know til July 2012…

BUT before that time, we can still talk a little.
This leads me to the 6 minute prologue of The Dark Knight Rises. WHile I will try to be vague, some possible spoilers should be noted below; you’ve been warned.

Four years ago, Warner Brothers did this same thing with the prologue of The Dark Knight before a limited IMAX screening of I Am Legend. It was the bank robbery sequence, which to me was a great way of setting up how unlike previous Batman movies this was going to be. I think it showed how much Nolan must love 70′s gritty thrillers, how rooted in reality he wanted the film to be and a quite bravura character entrance by which to introduce Heath Ledger as the Joker. It was fairly mesmerizing and it never ceases to stop me cold whenever it show up on TV.

Here, this prologue is much the same, but instead of a 70′s crime thriller, we are shown what I’d call a great 80′s action movie set-piece. And the introduction of Bane comes to show what a ruthless adversary he will be for the Dark Knight. Not because of his physical strength but his mental strength, his will. As much as the Ledger’s Joker was anarchic and without any plan, Tom Hardy’s Bane is all about the planning and intelligence. He willing puts himself as a captive into the hands of the “shadow warriors” of US intelligence and comes out the clear winner.

When I think of how Hardy plays him, I get a weird combination of Russell Crowe’s General Maximus from Gladiator and Alan Rickman’s Hans Gruber from Die Hard. This is NOT the Bane that we are used to seeing in comics (well, maybe a little bit of Gail Simone’s amazing and now-defunct series run of “Secret Six”). And this Bane has a plan:
“The Fire rises.”

If you want more specific details about The Dark Knight Rises you can check this out but spoilers beware!

And, YES, Bane was very hard to hear at times. Need to figure out how to change his dub so we can understand him, Mr. Nolan.

TOYS: Mattel & Hot ToysRELEASE DATE: July 20, 2012

THE EXPENDABLES 2

>
I think I may have Testosterone poisoning!

The SEQUEL to the Greatest-80′s-Action-Movie-that-took-30-years-to-make!

If you didn’t like or get The Expendables the first time, I’m not going to even try to convince you on this one. I saw this when it came out with a select group of cinephiles in the most appropriate venue for this distinct genre of cinema: the Drive-In! It was a blast! This looks like just as much fun as the first one.

Again no license has been announced. But Hot Toys did do a Sylvester Stallone’s Barney Ross 12″ figure from the first movie, so the precedent has been set. I’m bummed that there hasn’t been any more figures of Ross’ team like Dolph Lundgren’s Gunnar Jensen, Terry Crews’ Hale Caesar, Jason Statham’s Lee Christmas and Jet Li’s Yin Yang.

Maybe we can get Michael Biehn, Jesse Ventura, Bill Duke, Kurt Russell and Mel Gibson into a third movie? IF they pass the physical, naturally!

About the Author

Randy has been writing about reporting on toys for AFTimes since 1995 and shows no sign of stopping! He's been in all aspects of toys and collecting from retail clerk to toy company adviser, as well as been a toy expert for CNN. He's met Comic Artists to Adult film stars to Navy SEALS, during his time, as well as covered events from SDCC to American International Toy Fair.
He also loves movies, so don't be surprised if that comes up too-as well as some movie reviews!